Category: Colorado Politics

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Colorado Politics My News Politics

2010 Election Contributions

Well, it’s that time again.  Election time!  I think that the excitement I feel for major elections is very close to what I felt as a kid for Christmas.  Yeah, seriously.

So, in my past life I gave lots of money to causes that I now detest (Focus on the Family, American Family Association, etc.) and over the last 4 or 5 years I’ve tried to make up for my previous mistakes.  I had my misguided Ron Paul phase back in 2007 and inexplicably gave enough money to his campaign to actually show up in donor searches.

Now that I’m on the right (Left) side of the issues for good, and after giving everything I had to the Obama campaign back in 2008, I’m supporting our 2010 candidates where I can.  I’ve been wanting to see exactly how my giving breaks down so I created this pie chart.  It’s probably only interesting to me, but since I worked on it for so long I thought I’d post it anyway.  I recommend clicking on the image to see a sharper, easier to read full size version.

2010ContributionsOct(View Full Size)

As for who I’ve chosen to support (and there are so many more I wish I could support), here’s a bit about them and why I support them.  Clicking on their name will take you to their campaign web site.

  • John Flerlage – John is running for Congress in Colorado’s 6th Congressional District.  I have worked with John since the early days of his campaign serving primarily as his Internet social networking guy.  John is an incredible man, a proven leader, and has the sort of character we all wish our elected officials had.  If you have the means, please support John.
  • Betsy Markey – This is an easy one.  Betsy defeated the awful, despicable, hate-filled Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District back in 2008 in what I considered to be one of Colorado’s and the country’s gay community’s greatest victories.  Marilyn Musgrave was known for such discriminatory legislation as the Federal Marriage Amendment which she repeatedly introduced.  I also have a special place in my heart for CD4, since I spent my first year and a half in CO in the city of Fort Collins.  Would really hate to see this seat fall back into Republican hands.
  • Tarryl Clark – Two terrifying words: Michelle Bachmann.  I don’t think I need to say anymore, but Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District really, really needs to do the right thing and stop subjecting the nation to Bachmann’s special brand of crazy.  Oh, and just for fun check out michelebachmannsaidwhat.com.
  • Joe Sestak – I started donating to Joe Sestak back when he jumped into the race to challenge fake Democrat Arlen Specter in the Pennsylvania Senate primary.  Thankfully he defeated Specter and now he’s got a tough fight to beat tea bagger Pat Toomey.  Really hoping he pulls this one out.
  • DCCC – The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, committed to electing and keeping a Democratic house.  I trust them to put my money where it will be useful.
  • Rob Miller – Remember that jerk Joe Wilson yelling “You lie!” at the president during his speech to a joint session of Congress?  Well, Rob Miller is the guy who is going to take his job and the first candidate I signed up for monthly contributions to.  Joe Wilson is bad for South Carolina’s 2nd District and he’s bad for America.
  • Charlie Melancon – Charlie Melancon is a pretty moderate Democrat, but compared to the destructive right winger he’s running against, he’s beautiful!  David Vitter represents my home state of Louisiana in the U.S. Senate and does an extremely poor job at it.  Does an affair with a prostitute make an individual unfit for office?  No.  If that individual gets elected on a hypocritical “family values” platform, should he be re-elected?  No.
  • Stan Garnett – Back when Congress passed and the President signed historic legislation to prevent insurance companies from dropping your coverage because you got sick, or from making being a woman a pre-existing condition, etc. our Attorney General here in Colorado decided to sign us all on to a wasteful, misguided lawsuit against the federal government in opposition to the healthcare legislation.  Immediately Democrats started looking for a candidate to take him out in what would have otherwise been an easily re-election.  Buzz started that Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett would make a great candidate and I actually started a “Draft Stan Garnett” Facebook group.  A week or so later he was in the race.  Can’t wait for him to win this one!
  • Mary Jo Kilroy – Mary Jo Kilroy won Ohio’s 15th District narrowly back in 2008 and is a major target for Republicans this year in a rematch with her 2008 polling.  This is one where the Republicans see a real opportunity and losing Representative Kilroy would be a real blow.
  • Paul Hodes – Representative Paul Hodes is running against anti-gay, pro-life, tea bagger Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate in New Hampshire in what is considered a toss-up race.  I love the state of New Hampshire’s independence, but there really is no question as to what the right thing to do is here.
  • Jerry Brown – California is the country’s most populated state and is currently in financial crisis after 8 years of being represented by a celebrity Republican Governor.  Now Californians are given the choice between Jerry Brown and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman.  Aside from being a hypocrite on illegal immigration and employment, Whitman is now nearing the $150 million mark of dollars she has spent on her own campaign.  She bought the primary and now she’s trying to buy the Governorship.  Jerry Brown, while sometimes eccentric, is a good ol’ liberal and I have no doubt would lead California in the right direction.  During his first stint as Governor he appointed more women and minorities to office than any other previous California governor.  That’s someone I can get behind.
  • Jack Conway – This is a very clear example of me trying to make up for past mistakes.  Ron Paul’s son, Rand Paul, is running against Jack Conway for U.S. Senate in Kentucky and I fear the havoc would attempt to wreak if he were let loose in the Senate with his tea bagger ways.  Jack Conway supports the health care overhaul and is pro-labor.  He’s exactly what Kentucky needs after being stuck with Jim Bunning.
  • Bill White – Let’s be honest here, politically Texas is an embarrassment to the nation.  After screwing us with 8 years of George W. Bush, I’m hoping that the time has come to turn the state around.  Rick Perry is the longest serving governor in Texas history and has done everything in his power to keep it closed-minded, gay-hating and very, very red.  Bill White is the former mayor of Houston and has the opportunity to take Texas in the right direction.
  • Bernie Buescher – I donated to Bernie Buescher’s campaign for re-election as Colorado’s Secretary of State because for a while there he looked like he might be in trouble.  Things seemed to have evened out now and it’s looking like Bernie will be re-elected.
  • ActBlue PAC – ActBlue is an organization that raises money for Democratic candidates.  Through it’s website it has raised over 150 million dollars for many Democratic candidates who would otherwise not have a Web fundraising presence.  My donations to ActBlue come from a percentage tip for the site that I agreed to add on to other donations.
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Colorado Politics News Politics

Musgrave’s “Sore Losing for Dummies”

Marylin Musgrave has been the target of my posts before, but this time she’s really outdone herself.

It appears that two weeks after the election where she lost by a glorious twelve percentage points, she is still refusing to concede the race and congratulate her opponent, Betsy Markey.  I’ve known for a while that this woman is shameless and just plain mean, but this is even surprising to me.

Marilyn now has the honor of making national news, as she was featured on the Rachel Maddow Show.

Furthermore, she has been listed on Newsweek’s The Dignity Index as a 78 out of 100.  Newsweek had this to say: “Despite losing her re-election bid by 12 points, Colorado GOP Rep. Marilyn Musgrave refuses to congratulate her opponent or even concede the race,”

This woman has been an enemy of my right to happiness and equality, and I am filled with much joy that the fair-minded people of Colorado’s 4th Congression District have spoken loudly and have boldly silenced Marilyn’s fearmongering and hatred.

“Stay classy Marilyn Musgrave.”

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Civil Rights Colorado Politics LGBTQ Issues My News Photos Politics

Protesting H8, Denver Style

This past Saturday, November 15th, people from across the nation nation came together at over 300 rallies to protest Proposition 8 in California, Florida’s Amendment 2, a similar ballot initiative in Arizona and the anti adoption amendment in Arkansas.

I was one of the Marshals for the event and it was an amazing time.  The Marshals arrived about an hour and a half before the rally and people started showing up not long after we did.  There were over 1,500 in attendance at the rally and about 1,200 of them marched with us down 16th street mall.

As a Marshal my responsibilities were primarily crowd control.  As the crowd grew at the rally, we ran out of space and people were starting to move into the street in front of the Denver City & County Building.  The street was still open to traffic, so we had to do out part to avoid accidents.

Once we started marching, we kept the group as together as we could.  The line was too long to be seen in its entirety, much to my surprise and excitement.  The Marshals would leapfrog and hold the traffic at the different intersections.  Understandably, there were a few pissed off commuters, but we had a permit to be there and I personally find my rights being denied to me a bit more inconvenient then being stuck at an intersection for a few minutes.

As Marshals, we also kept the crowd chanting.  I would walk up and down as much of the march as I could and lead them in chants.  I started losing my voice about halfway through and recruit fellow marchers to help me out:

“What do we want?”  “Equal rights!” “When do we want them?”  “Now!”

NovProtest002

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“Gay, straight, black, white – marriage is a civil right!”

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“Love, Not Hate! Love, Not Hate! Love, Not Hate!“

NovProtest005

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About three fourths of the way through the march, people were getting tired and my voice was all but gone, but we pushed forward and I reminded the marchers that as tired as we were, the opposition was far from tired of denying us our rights.

Most encouraging to me were the straight couples with their children who came out to support us.  They were scattered all over our rally and just as passionate about equality as the gay community.  I was also encouraged by the employees and customers of the different stores along 16th Street Mall that came out on to the sidewalk to cheer us on, some even joining us in our march.

We finally made it back to Civic Center Park, but the group did not disperse as I had expected.  People picked up and led their own chants, others just smiled with tear filled eyes amazed at the spectacle they were witnessing.  I finally climbed to the top of the nearby stairs and thanked everyone for coming, implored them not to let their passion and their work end here, to contact their elected officials and hold them accountable, vote in the future and stay involved in the movement.  A cheer went up, a group of High School students resumed their cheers, and we Marshals were surrounded by grateful marchers who hugged and thanked us for our work.

It was an inspirational experience that I don’t anticipate matching anytime soon.  After 4 months on the Obama campaign I was apprehensive and very slow to sign up to work this event, but I am thrilled that I ultimately did.

Equality will come, that much I know.

~~

 

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Colorado Politics News Politics

Musgrave Must Go!

 

This woman is vile.  Colorado’s Congressional 4th District has an incredible opportunity this November to relieve Congress of this vile, bigoted woman.  To think of the civilian death count in Iraq now documented as between 90,000 to 150,000, the soldiers we’ve lost at over 4,000, and over 30,000 of our young men and women wounded, and this woman focuses on gay marriage?  This woman makes me sick.

If you aren’t familiar with Mrs. Marilyn Musgrave she is best known as the main sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment that thankfully failed miserably in 2006 and again in 2007.  As if those two failures weren’t enough she’s at it again co-sponsoring the same legislation this time around.  She’s known in the square state as "Mad Cow" Marilyn and desperately needs to be put out to pasture.

She has a fantastic opponent this year, Betsy Markey, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed and my wallet open in hopes that her bigotry and hatred are finally removed from our Capitol.

 

Iraq War Sources: http://icasualties.org/oif,
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Iraq_War#Iraq_Health_Minister_estimate_in_November_2006

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Colorado Politics My News Photos Politics

Arapahoe County: Fired Up, Ready To Go!

This past Thursday evening I attended the Grand Opening of Barack Obama‘s Campaign for Change Campaign Office here in Arapahoe County.  There were well over 200 people in attendance, around 250 I would guess.  The crowd was as diverse a crowd as I’ve ever seen, and there was electricity in the air.  I met most of the staff, officially changed my registration to Democrat, and signed up to volunteer my time.

Saturday I attended a Volunteer Leaders conference which also had several hundred people in attendance.  We spent a little over 5 hours together training and organizing neighborhood teams with our campaign staff Field Organizers.  We will be meeting regularly to conduct voter registration drives, as well as phone banking.  I will probably end up as the Canvassing Coordinator or the Phone Banking Coordinator.  I have experience with both, so we’ll see.

These pictures are from the campaign office opening.  It was a fantastic evening!  Fired Up,  Ready To Go!